Stage Fright
by DelightfulChild
Summary: It's the first rehearsal of the school play! But the Delightful Children aren't feeling exactly Delightful...What in the world is 'Stage Fright' Sanban? A short story based around Operation L.O.V.E


(Authors Note: WOAH, it's been quite some time huh? Since a dear friend of mine did some art of one of my older fics recently, I checked out my account again, I haven't uploaded anything in quite awhile, but that dosen't mean I haven't written anything! So, fans of Raindrops and Rainbow Monkeys will probably like this one, I wrote it sometime in 2013, but it's still a good story I think, and I hope you readers enjoy!)

They we're ashamed of themselves, up until an hour ago they had been calm, confident, and dare they say, giddy, after bribing themselves days before into the lead role (and relishing in the stream of unhappy faces come the day that all roles for the school play actors was released) they had no inklings of doubt that they could easily outshine all the other actors, even with their little ill gotten gain, no problem at all.

Which made the fact that they we're now cowering in one of the costume racks backstage all the more humiliating, shuddering and shivering as if they we're being subjected to temperatures more suited to the artic tundra than the simple backstage area of an elementary school auditorium.

Their script packet, all but mashed beneath Ogie's foot, knees pressing into the thin, pale blue streak of her sailor suit, the other Delightful Children in the very same position, long forgotten since they had all but hurled themselves in here fifteen minutes prior after the director had called for rehearsals to begin, they had begun to follow the pack of children out onto center stage, when the realities of the play began their circulation in their hive mind, reminding themselves that as the leads, they'd be getting much more attention, and adults would be watching on opening night, expecting nothing less than perfection than perfect children such as them, and it was around that point the group began to go weak in the knees as the vicious cycle persisted.

What if they messed up? Botched a line or even two in a crucial scene? What if those missteps ended up in another sub-par child scoring the 'Plays Best Actor Award' instead of them? What if they...failed?

Eventually, this sudden surge of negativity found it suitable to make the quintet backpedal in a burst of outright panic, and once backstage emptied out, picking out the largest costume rack, and pushing themselves past leather jackets and ripped jeans and everything in between, and hiding in an even closer formation within it's confines, and it wasn't long before the gut wrenching gripes and shouts from onstage began arriving through the closely packed attire, thankfully not enough for them to make out entire sentences, but just enough to leave a bitter sting as detached words reached their ears.

"...Chickened out?..."

"...So much for lead's..."

"...Ugh...just here!.."

"...Delightful Children from down the Lane?!..."

The last voice was unmistakably the directors, confused and calling out for **them** amidst the other actors grumbles, and the Delightful's felt their hearts drop, pressing their heads against their folded knees in one quick, synchronous motion, trying desperately to block out the sound seeping through the costumes hanging on the rack, and the voice of an adult, one that they we're currently **disappointing.** It was almost enough to drive them to burst from the rack and splutter sorry upon endless sorry, even if they did make fools of themselves in the process, a little public embarrassment was much better than disappointing an adult.

But this wretched gut feeling seeping inside them jellied their legs, and kept them rooted in place within their hiding spot, so there they remained.

 _Click,Pat-Pat, Click, Swish_

The Delightful Children froze, pale blue eyes frantically blinking in tandem as they lifted their heads upwards slightly, picking up the unmistakable sound of footfalls cracking against the hardwood of the backstage area, and what sounded like things being moved about, and heartstoppingly enough, it sounded like whoever it was, was nearing their hiding place with each passing second. With a short, unified inhale, and an act of desperation, the shuddering deviants found themselves holding their collective breath, and hoped against hope that they wouldn't be discovered.

 _ **SWISSSH!**_

With a sudden burst of air escaping their lips, the Delightfuls frantically pressed against eachother, trying to sink back within the limited space within the costume rack as the leather jackets before their eyes parted, two pairs of petite hands parting the folds of crisp, black cloth, 10 blue eyes widening like deers in the headlights, and a face emerged from the opening, coal black eyes seeming to gleam in innocent curiosity even in the limited light, framed by gently combed black locks.

"Hi Delightful Children!"Numbuh 3 squealed, causing the group to suddenly kick into action, pulling pale fingers to their lips as eyes narrowed in a mixture of anger and panic.

" _Sanban! Shush this instant!_ "The Delightfuls hissed together, causing the operative to cock her head to the side, as if not understanding their request. "Huh? How come?" The Asian inquired, then smiled wide at her own guess, clapping her hands together, freed presently from being folded up in the sleeves of her trademark emerald sweater. "Ooo, Ooo! Lemme guess, you guys are playing hide and seek **and** the quiet game at the same time!"Numbuh 3 squeaked once again, causing the Delightfuls to wince and heartbeats to accelerate in unison in horror of being discovered, finding that voices had stop rising from the outer stage.

" _Y-Yes! We are! So you have to be_ _ **very**_ _quiet, right now Kuki_!"The quintet spoke in even further urgent whispers, stealing a glance at the back of the circular costume rack, maybe they could escape out the back of it before Kuki exposed their hiding spot to everyone...

And alarmingly enough, Kuki had fallen silent, and when they looked back, the operative appeared to be peering over her own shoulder, sporting a small, dubious frown, before pulling her head back forward, raven hair temporarily spilling over her face, eyes twinkling merrily in the reduced lighting, even in the presence of some of her Sector's worst enemies.

"Okay!~ But I wanna play too then! Quick, scooch over!"Numbuh 3 spoke, in a curiously lower voice volume, even as her tone was continuously overlapped with downright syrupy brightness, as if she was still speaking as loud as ever, but before the Delightful Children had a moment to exhale in relief, their eyebrows pricked up at her request.

" _Wait, what was that last bit Kuki-aah! What are you?!-_ "The quintet was cut off mid questioning though, as Numbuh 3 pushed her way into the already stuffed clothes rack, causing hangers to rattle as they yelped together , and attempted to squirm to the side, mostly to avoid being bopped in the face by her hands and feet, and with her own whispers of ' **oopsie**!' and ' **watch out**!' mixing with their yelps and respective, unified, ' **acks**!' the little operative managed to worm into the confines of the clothes, pressing herself into Ashley's side, snuggling in close with a tiny giggle as the flap she had been holding open swung shut on it's own accord, effectively blotting the group of now six individuals into all but pitch black, save the miniscule slivers of light sliding under the rack itself.

Once the rattles had subsided and Numbuh 3 found herself comfortable, the pink dress she currently wore meshing against Ashley's own sailor suit covered shoulder, pink bow lopsided in the scuffle, the group found their eyes sliding over to take a wideyed glance at the operatives own beaming features, why she wasn't giggling presently, was beyond them.

But one thing was for certain, she was in **their** space, and while to them to be truthful, personal space was all but an utterly alien concept given their all but 24/7 unity with one another, it was another thing **entirely** to have someone that wasn't eachother, breaching into the space of their group formation, and they intended to voice their displeasure, taking a small breath together as they remembered to preserve their hiding spot to **anymore** intruders, when Kuki suddenly pushed a hand up, sliding her bunched fingers over Bruce's lips before they could even utter a single syllable, nearly coughing as a chain reaction was spurred from him, and effectively shushed the remainder of the now even further unhappy quintet. This was absolutely ridiculous! They would speak if they so wished too! And they made to shove the operatives hand away, when even more footsteps halted their motion, and all but froze their blood to ice.

"Aw, this is jussst great! Now Numbuh Three's missing!" Came the clipped tone of one dissatisfied Nigel Uno, the sound of footsteps ending a few moments after his voice seeped into the rack, the Delightfuls straining their ears to hear more.

"Maybe the girl had to use the bathroom or something? Did you see her leave the stage Numbuh 2?"The more sensible tone of Numbuh 5 followed, a nearly muffled sound of indifference followed from what the group assumed was Numbuh 2 shrugging his shoulders unhelpfully.

"Ugh, It's already bad enough that the Delightful Dorks got the other lead role in this play, I don't trust it already, they've got to be up to something"Came the bitter bite of the Brit's tone, causing the Delightfuls to glower from within the rack, not even bothering to glance at Kuki as the footsteps shrank away and the conversation between the trio became undecipherable.

And it was at that moment that the Delightfuls recognized the soft puffs of warm breath wisping against their, or atleast Ashley's cheek, drawing their combined attention begrudgingly to the side where Numbuh 3 was sitting, or more so leaning into them, and their hearts attempted to promptly jump ship up their five windpipes as they coughed on oxygen at her somehow even closer quarters, all but bumping noses with Ashley as her face was scrunched into an observant frown, somehow serious and downright childish at the same time, but all the operative served to do at that moment was scare them out of their wits.

" _ **AAAHHH**_!"They gasped, monotone shaking and jittery as they realized midway through their outcry that their we're trying to be quiet, and merely swallowed several times, and leveled the blinking girl with a withering gaze of sheer spite.

" _For Father's sake Sanban! What are you attempting to do, scare us half to death_!?"They seethed in harsh whispers, while the dress clad child merely shrunk beneath their gazes, plopping her chin onto Ashley's shoulder, and what gave the infuriated group pause was the softening of the operatives eyes, and the little, genuinely upset frown.

"I was...just wondering why you guys we're hiding in here is all, I'm sorry.."Numbuh 3 trailed off, her lilting tone now seeming to curl in on itself like it was adopting it's own fetal position in a subconscious sense, the Delightful Children gave a single blink, their eye muscles relaxing from their sloped, narrowed position, and a long, slow sigh was coaxed from their throats despite themselves, feeling the clothing around them swish as they settled back down, Lenny and Ogie's shoulders softly nudging at the hangers given the close quarters.

" _Well, we appreciate your apology, but..._ "The Delightfuls paused then, did they really want to disclose something like this to someone they couldn't stand? Granted Kuki did seem genuine in her apology and actions, so maybe they could disclose some, and perhaps she could pinpoint this wretched feeling that stirred up in them whenever they thought about going onstage, it was worth a shot at least, they gave a little bob of their heads, and their eyes scrunched shut on instinct, just in case she laughed. " _but, we're just, nervous_ "The quintet admitted, whispering far softer than they really even needed too, pressing their knees further into their stomachs, one beat of pause followed, and they we're dimly aware of only the faint sound of their soft, collective breathing, and for a few precious seconds, they realized Kuki's own breathing was following theirs in harmony.

But it didn't last long, as Numbuh 3 gave a brisk, short "hmmmm", giving the daunted Delightfuls reason to crack their eyes partially open, and to their surprise, the petite Asian was rubbing her chin, and appeared to be contemplating their confession in a manner of maturity, or at least, as mature as a child like Kuki could be, they reasoned, and after what seemed like an eternity, the child spoke. "You mean, kinda like stage fright?"Numbuh 3 spoke, seeming to momentarily chew on the inside of her cheek in a thoughtful motion, before stopping, and giving the quintet a look of what almost seemed to be encouragement, coaxing them to speak, and confirm or reject her hypothesis.

" _Staggee Fright_?"The Delightfuls spoke, drawing out the term, it was familiar, and yet it wasn't all at once. Numbuh 3 almost seemed apologetic at that, tongue jutting past her lips as coal colored eyes scrunched as she thought of ways to phrase it, in her own special brand of 'Kuki-diagnosis'. "Well, you see, it's kinda like, your knees get all wobbly, and you get sooper duper scared, oh, and your mouth gets all dry, sorta like a desert, only without the camels! Hehe, wouldn't that be silly though?"Kuki implored as her eye's gleamed in the dark, imaging miniature camels waltzing around on someone's tongue, though it merely puzzled the quintet, who's mouths hung partially ajar in sheer perplexion, clearly not grasping what the operative was trying to convey to them. Numbuh Three frowned, rapping a hand lightly against her head as she tried to think up another example, and gave a small 'aha!'.

"Now I remember! Numbuh One got it once when he was preparing his speech to give a really important speech for his defense grid! You guy's should've seen him! He wouldn't come out of his room for the whole day, it was like a paper avalanche when Numbuh 5 finally pried his door open"Numbuh 3 exclaimed, trying to spread her arms wide to reenact the moment in time, before a tiny smile seated itself on her lips as the Delightfuls looked on, feeling the figurative cogs of their mind begin to whir until it all clicked, of course! It was so simple now! They we're merely experiencing nerves! But how to combat it...

Numbuh 3 butt in once more however, smiling wider than before. "Maybe, if you guys tried doing this whole 'envision something your really good at!' thing that Numbuh 5 told Numbuh 1 to do back then, you'd be less nervous!"She concluded, brimming with pride at her sense of helpfulness, the Delightful Children then found themselves grinning just as wide, though for far more devious reasons. That was it indeed, oh they'd even do everyone one better too!

By incorporating an evil plan into the play, they'd be in an undeniable comfort zone, they were always at their most confident when carrying out schemes, so why not fit one into a play? They could even disguise a robot and sneak it into the prop department on opening night! The Play's Best Actor Award would be a shoe-in for sure, and their 10 eyes brimmed with zeal as they thought it over, and eerie laughter bubbled in their throats, but they could laugh later, as the look on Numbuh 3's face halted their merriment for a moment, turning it into gently disintegrated curiosity, heads tilted as pale blue met shining black. Kuki was smiling, but she seemed to hold glee for an entirely different reason, she looked proud of herself.

"Aww see! I know you guy's'll do just great!"Kuki giggled, a shining ray of sunshine in the hiding spot they shared, and dare they say it, delight, she was **happy** to lift their spirits.

Humbled despite themselves, the Delightfuls granted her small smiles, not quite broad smiles, nor smirks either, and almost unmarred by devious intentions for now.

" _Why thank you Kukii, we certainly hope so_ "The spoke smoothly, making their gratitude known towards the child, and for once it didn't feel quite as forced, even as the makings of an evil plan stirred at the back of their mind, begging to be written, plotted out, and expanded upon.

Perhaps, for just this moment, they could afford to hate Numbuh 3 just a **little** bit less.


End file.
